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FBI, CIA, and NSA: Don't Use Huawei Phones (cnbc.com)
The heads of six top U.S. intelligence agencies told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday they would not advise Americans to use products or services from Chinese smartphone maker Huawei. "The six -- including the heads of the CIA, FBI, NSA and the director of national intelligence -- first expressed their distrust of Apple-rival Huawei and fellow Chinese telecom company ZTE in reference to public servants and state agencies," reports CNBC. From the report: "We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don't share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks," FBI Director Chris Wray testified. "That provides the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure," Wray said. "It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage."
In a response, Huawei said that it "poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor." A spokesman said in a statement: "Huawei is aware of a range of U.S. government activities seemingly aimed at inhibiting Huawei's business in the U.S. market. Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide and poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor, sharing as we do common global supply chains and production capabilities."
In a response, Huawei said that it "poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor." A spokesman said in a statement: "Huawei is aware of a range of U.S. government activities seemingly aimed at inhibiting Huawei's business in the U.S. market. Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide and poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor, sharing as we do common global supply chains and production capabilities."
Immigration shouldn't use Chinese phones as they go after Mexican illegals on the order of our Russian controlled president.
They are simply bypassing adding a barrier of entry which would be illegal by pretending they are a security risk. That could backfire a lot though, because so far only the US was caught with the hand in the malware cookie jar, and massively intercepting comms. That could turn around and bite the US in the ass, why trust anything including new computer plateform when it is spied upon NSA, subpoenaed even if server are not physically in the US, and most probably bugged to hell by the NSA ? Huawei was never caught red handed. The US and NSA was. By using this tactic , the US may remind OTHER countries who was the one governement which was caught doing what they pretend Huawei is doing....
We've begged this company to allow backdoors in their products and they have refused, so please don't use their products, m'kay!
'"We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don't share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks," FBI Director Chris Wray testified'.
I wonder if Mr Wray would care to state exactly what "our values" are. I suspect the reason why politicians (and make no mistake, the FBI Director is a politician first, last and foremost) never list "our values" is either because they have forgotten what they are supposed to be, or because they are afraid listeners would burst out laughing.
Democracy? The USA was never meant to be a democracy - quite the contrary - and it is now definitely a plutocracy.
Freedom? That depends, doesn't it - whose freedom to do what to whom?
Freedom of speech? "It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them". - Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XX
Freedom of assembly? Not anywhere near where any politicians are having a meeting, or anywhere the armed forces say you can't go.
A free market? Everything is rigged, starting with interest rates and including the stock and bond markets.
I could go on but I don't want to bore anyone.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
Honestly, the Chinese government has no power or authority over me, so if that government took my data I'd mind a whole lot less than if it was my own government.
I'm not really sure what the risk level is here for the average person while using a product from Huawei, it just doesn't seem any more significant than using Google, Facebook, Apple, or other tech company products that already surveil the hell out of you.
By their logic we shouldn't be buying Lenovo, Motorola, Apple (Foxconn), or any of over a hundred other Chinese OEM's devices. The excuse that Apple controls the OS isn't even a solid argument as the firmware is still in the hands of the OEM and susceptible to tampering. There's something else pushing this narrative. Be interesting to find out what it is.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Apple phones are still manufactured by a Chinese company. For that matter, how are these one line of Huawei phones different from literally every other phone manufactured in China to be sold worldwide, including in the US?
What is special about this particular line of phones that they're not telling us?
Also, of course, if Americans are not to use Chinese devices in case the Chinese government spies on them - who (outside the USA) is going to want to use American devices?
We know for sure that the US government systematically spies on Americans, and if they spy on Americans they certainly wouldn't baulk at spying on foreigners.
So, goodbye all Apple sales to China, Russia, India, Europe, Africa, South America...
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
I don't get this stance. Virtually *everything* used in North America comes from China. Even precious American darlings like Apple make all their stuff in China and ship it over.
If the US gov't is so worried about Chinese influence, maybe they shouldn't have allowed the overwhelming majority of it's manufacturing capacity to be moved overseas?
*sniff sniff*, smells like bullshit.
Isn't such agencies should come up with solid proof first, before accusing anyone? Or they became oligarch/multinationals mercenary - like law enforcement agencies in Putin Russia?
What if China cut, in retaliation, and in their traditions - much more harsh way, Apple? 1/4-1/3 of profit gone? (and other countries might enjoy following trend)
Most people in their late 40s and 50s, which is how old you need to be to bubble up to the top in just about any large organization, came of age in the late 80s and early 90s when China was a backwater, Russia was a third-world country, and all the cutting-edge good stuff was being manufactured by companies like IBM in places like Lexington, Kentucky.
For much of the late 90s and 2000s, and even into today, that continued to be true for most (if not all) military electronics. A lot of laws and regulations that defense contractors and government labs follow are still written like that's the reality for all of tech. To an extent, that sustains a small advanced electronics echosystem here.
Problem is, that stopped being true for consumer electronics a long time ago, and more advanced and backend equipment is following in those footsteps, because guess what: twenty years of growth in making cheap shit over there pumps money and builds up expertise and a manufacturing echosystem over there. At the expense of the one here, I might add. The guys sounding the alarm in TFA are just realizing the scope of the problem because it's coming to get them where they live: government IT security by way of trusted suppliers.
It's not hypocrisy. It's just government stupidity by way of institutional inertia and obliviousness to the market environment.
FBI, CIA, NSA: Encryption bad! Spying good! Privacy bad!
They almost got it right. I'll fix it.
"We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to ANY government, as NONE OF THEM share our values, to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks," FBI Director Chris Wray should have testified. "That provides the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure," Wray should have said. "It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage that is currently only OK for Uncle Sam and his secret courts"
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
You do know Foxconn is Taiwanese. They aren't exactly keen on being subservient to the Chinese government.
Just because someone has their own ecosystem doesn't mean they aren't competing with single vendors from other ecosystems.
I'm going to be off-topic and pedantic here.
> Russia was a third-world country
The definition of second world was "the USSR and its allies".
First world is NATO (US and allies).
Third world is countries not aligned with either major power, often because they weren't significant enough to make a big difference anyway, so they weren't courted by either the US or USSR.
US officially operates under a One China policy, where Beijing is recognized, but Taiwan isn't. And China considers Taiwan to be an autonomous region, like Hong Kong and Macau. And Foxconn is operating in China, so are subject to the laws and practices of China. One should assume that Foxconn is a Chinese company.
Though, I have no idea why Huawei is targeted. They have no official ties to the China government, and, unlike Cisco, have never put in a backdoor for government control. I'd be much more worried about American companies. The government has requested backdoors publicly, and privately, and there have been some confirmed and found. It does not matter that they are intended for US operatives only, once they are in, they can be compromised by others.
I guess it's just plain racism. China bad. America good.
Learn to love Alaska
Though, I have no idea why Huawei is targeted. They have no official ties to the China government, and, unlike Cisco, have never put in a backdoor for government control.
Ding ding ding. The NSA wants a back door that they control in every phone.
You do know Foxconn is Taiwanese. They aren't exactly keen on being subservient to the Chinese government.
Foxconn may be Taiwan-based, but Apple iPhones are assembles at their factories in mainland China.
I imagine that Foxconn is at the mercy of the PRC government for permission to do anything: e.g. build factories, employ people, etc.
Though, I have no idea why Huawei is targeted.
Because they have been caught installing spyware in the firmware.
http://www.news18.com/news/tech/xiaomi-lenovo-huawei-smartphones-found-pre-installed-with-spyware-1087415.html
Their response was "oh, that wasn't us, it was somebody else."
Did you just wake up from a coma?
https://www.infoworld.com/article/2608141/internet-privacy/snowden--the-nsa-planted-backdoors-in-cisco-products.html
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/photos-of-an-nsa-upgrade-factory-show-cisco-router-getting-implant/
https://www.wired.com/2013/09/nsa-router-hacking/